year is held in Drogheda on the 12th of May. The greatest cow and pig fairs of the year are held in Dunleer on the 14th of May and Twelfth Day (6th January) and in Dundalk on the 17th of May.
On that day boys and girls who are idle go to the town and farmers hire them for six months. This day is called "Hiring Day".

If May Day is bright and cleat it is the sign of a good Summer. To protect themselves from evil spirits the fire is put out the day before May Day and not lit till after the milking time on May Day. If they don't do that they can make no butter on May DayIt is unlucky to pay anything on a Monday for you will be paying all the weekGreen is supposed to be an unlucky colour. It brings death or sickness or disappointment

The month of may was considered an unlucky month for marriage and Saturday an unlucky day

May-day is kept on the first of May. It is customary in this locality for the children to put up a May-bush on May-day and to decorate it with flowers. There is an old custom to go out before sunrise and wash your face in the dew and say the rosary and it will keep away any sore on your face for the year. There is another custom which forbids the giving away of any milk on May-day because you give away the luck of the milk and butter.

up in the houses to prevent diseases during the year. On St. Patrick's Day the people wear shamrocks in their coats and the children wear green ribbons and badges. Shrove Tuesday is the day before Ash Wednesday. On that night the people make pancakes and usually there are a lot of marriages on the day.
On Holy Thursday and Good Friday there is a procession held in every church. Easter Sunday the people eat a lot of eggs and the children spend their spare pennies on Easter eggs. On May Day the people dress a may bush and the children decorate a May altar. On St. Peter and St. Paul's Day bonfires are lit, and usually there is a large crowd at them and they dance and sing around them for a few hours.

May Day. The May bush is put up at every house here. The bush is cut the day before and bunches of flowers are tied on it - primroses cowslips and daisies. The bush is put opposite the front door and is left there all May Day. It is taken down in the evening.
In the houses a May alter is erected in honour of Our Lady and every day the children gather fresh flowers to decorate it.

In this place people usually marry in the Summer time, seldom during Shrove, or on Shrove Tuesday. May and August are considered unlucky for marriage. Still, some people get married in August, but they never get married in May. They say Wednesday is lucky but Saturday unlucky. Some people would not marry on the "Cross Day" of the year. There are others who never even heard of it. The cross day of the year is the fourth day after Xmas Day including Xmas Day. Thus if Xmas Day fell on a Saturday, Tuesday would be the "Cross day" of the following year, i.e. every Tuesday till Xmas comes again.
Very Seldom matches are made in this district; the young people usually arrange the marriage. But if the parents of either party are not pleased they use their influence to prevent the marriage and the young people may not get the land or money which the parents

There are a good deal of customs which the people observe on May Day.
Some people make a May-bush on that day. They get a piece of a black-thorn bush with blossoms on it. They put it on the dung-hill & tie bundles of primroses on it and the shells of the eggs which were eaten on Easter Sunday. No ashes is put out on that day. It is left in the Ash-corner until next day. There is no lending or borrowing of tools on that day, & people are warned in particular against lending anything connected with the churn. Some people are up early on May Morning to get the first bucket of water from the well. This carries good-luck with it.
Some people tie red rags on their cows' tails on that day for a similar

The day before may day all the children of the town go geathering whin bushes and primroses. On May Morning the very first thing every child hangs out her whin bush and throws handfulls of flowers out side the front door and they are left their all day and at night the whin are burned.

face in the dew May day it would take the freckles away.

"A wet and windy May fills the haggard with corn and hay."
"Christmas day always falls on the same day of the week as May-day"

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Feast Days
St Stephn's Day is a great feast day in Ireland. The children dress up in old clothes and put on false faces, they go around singing "The wren song." The wren, thee wren, the king of all birds. On Stephns Day she was caught in the furge, we dipped her wing in a ball of Beer, Wishing you all a merry Christmas and a Bright New Year. They do this for twelve nights, they divide the money among themselves. On Shrove Tuesday every Catholic home makes pancakes to keep up the old Irish custom. On Easter Saturday it is generally the custom for children to go from house to house collecting their Cludogs. On May Day it is the custom for children to go from house to house collecting candles for the may bush, we cut a nice may bush and we dig a hole and we put the bush in the hole. Then we decorate it, with flowers and when it is ready we sing the may hymms around the may bush. The Fifteenth of August is the Patron Day of Balscadden. The people come and dress the graves and pay respect to the dead. Hallow Eve is a very old feast day in Ireland. It is a time of joy and sport. We play many games on

May Day: May Day occurs on the 1st of May. Children get a May Bush and decorate it with eggshells and bunches of cowslips and primroses and brightly coloured papers. The sells of the eggs that are laid on Good Friday and eaten on Easter Sunday are kept to decorate the May Bush. There is a verse attached to the first of May:"The first of May
The first of Summer
The second of May
The fair of Ballycumber"St. Brigids Day; St. Brigid's Day occurs on the first of February. On the eve of the feast rush crosses are made and hung up in some part of the house. St. Brigid was supposed to have made similar onces when she was on earth. St. Swithin's day: It falls on the 15th July, If it rains on that day it is supposed to rain fro forty days and forty nights. If it is fine on that day it will be fine for the same period.

It was considered unlucky to give milk to people on May Day as the person getting

shells were saved from Easter Sunday until May day to decorate the bush.

written on it is given to a person to bring to a neighbours house. This person keeps up the fun by sending him to the next house and so on thus keeping the poor fool going all day. Youths also resort to many other tricks to fool each other on this day.May Day - Some people around our locality consider it most unlucky to whitewash or paper their homes on May Day or during the month of May as they believe it brings sickness and misfortune to the family and if they have any suck work in progress it is discontinued if there is no possibility of finishing it before the month of May. They also consider it a very bad sign for the fire to go out on May Day or to meet a red-haired woman on that morning.The "May Bush" - It is a

Here is an old saying about Michaelmas day,- it is sure to be wet.The 11th June is the longest day in the year. May day.
Here is a story about May day. Some people would'nt give milk or anything to a person on May day

Patrick's day and that you would have a good crop that year. Of a windy day people say if the wind is blowing from the east, it is neither good for man or beast, a wet and windy May, fills the farmers' haggards with corn and hay, when it is blowing from the north they say we will have snow. It is unlucky to give a drink of milk to anyone the first day of May.

May Day used to be a day of great enjoyment in Ireland. The fun was started the evening before. They had a May Bush, which was a small shrub decorated with May flowers and lighted candles around which they danced. Some would have a May Queen or an effigy dressed up to represent a queen. They would set it beside the May Bush. There would be a dance at the May Bush until late at night.May Day is looked on the most important day in the year for practising charms and all kinds of witchcraft. This is the day for taking the butter from other people's cows - or for guarding against the spells of witchcraft. If there is a well used in common by a number of families the person who wishes to have the best luck for the ensuing year must be sure to be first at the well after Midnight and put May flowers into the water. Otherwise someone else will be there first and take all your luck for

When May Day comes people put May-fowers (marsh marigolds) around the doors for good luck.